


Iona

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Titan Vanguard, Warlock Vanguard, destiny awoken, destiny titan, that asshole prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how I chose.<br/>The tale of a Corsair, and a Titan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iona

**Author's Note:**

> [Find it on tumblr](http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/136330916663/iona)

Iona had never gazed upon a Ceres Gallot and felt fear before. Yet here she stood in the tower plaza, in the shade of the Traveler, staring at the sleek Reef ship. It’s pilot was obscured by a crowd of curious Guardians. Logically it was nothing, logically it was simply an emissary, however uncharacteristic it was to send one. Logically, it wasn’t here for her, but logically, the Queen knew she was here. Where else would she be?

She swallowed her fear and strode away to the Vanguard hall. Never before had she wanted to report to Zavala so badly.

“Why is it here?” She asked when her Ghost had finished transmitting him their report.

He shrugged and returned to his work “We are in no position to deny an ambassador. Nor would there be any reason to.”

Iona shivered beneath her armor. If she disappeared tomorrow would he notice? Would any of them? She realized in the long years she’d lived in the city she had not truly made friends. She would not be missed. But the Reef, the Reef had held sisters and family. The Reef had been home. Was she wrong to have forsaken it?

“Guardian?” Ikora asked gently from across the table. The Warlock had eyes on her that invited conversation. Iona composed herself and gave the other woman a respectful bow before taking her leave.

She wasn’t quite out of earshot when Zavala whispered. “I can’t babysit all of them Ikora, and neither can you.”

Would she truly be missed if she left?

* * *

She woke up gasping for breath. Her body was draped oddly over the side panels of the ship’s cockpit. She could see the forward viewport was cracked. Her mind began to panic, she searched for the oxygen levels on her hud but it was offline. Why was she sideways? Had the ship lost it’s stabilizers? It was dark but not that dark, not like space, it was softer and quieter. The quiet broke to release a singular question in an unfamiliar voice.

“Guardian?”

Blue light bathed her face, reflected off her visor. The source blinked and the glare was gentler, like the glow of a status light.

“How do you feel?” The tiny machine asked her. “Can you see? Hear? Move?”

Iona took a deep breath. Picked herself up off the console. She crouched unsteadily inside the overturned ship. Felt the weight of gravity. On a planet? Red dust lay in mounds around her. Mars then?

The small thing circled her. “You seem alright. Can you speak?”

“I can.” She said, but felt like amending that. Her voice sounded somewhat strange. Her head hurt a little.

“That is good.” The voice was male, soothing. Reminded her of her right wingman…

She yelped like she had been wounded, falling back to her knees. They slammed against the tilted floor of the ship and she stumbled into an odd ball in the seat. The small machine sped down to examine her.

“Did something happen? Are you alright?”

She closed her eyes and remembered watching him burn. She remembered the near misses from the Ketch’s small arms. Entering low orbit, attempting to hide in the clouds. Soinj hit, exploding into shrapnel beside her. Her own craft hit, the wing breaking, spiraling. The roaring wind-

“Guardian?”

The little robot bumped into her shoulder, just beside the collarbone. It was warm somehow, through her bodysuit. It roused her from her destructive memory. She pulled herself out of the fetal position, taking long breaths.

“What are you, little thing?” She asked, reaching shakily out to cup it in a hand. It allowed the contact, sinking into it as a lover would sink to a touch. It calmed her shivers in a way, grounded her

“I am your Ghost.”

“Why are you here?”

It blinked and tilted it’s gyroscopic eye. “For you, Guardian.”

There was something final in that statement, something that made her feel encapsulated and alone.

* * *

Ceres was gone. Her home. Gone. Destroyed on her Queen’s order.

It was…. strange, to feel that, to know. She wondered if any Awoken had died that day, or if they had been evacuated. She dared not ask.

From her understanding the Fallen had landed on the far side of the planetoid. Their fleet rested. The Queen made sacrifices for the good of a City far away on Earth. Iona’s new Ghost was grateful for this, told her the inhabitants of that City would surely have been destroyed.

In the grand scheme of things, Ceres was a worthy sacrifice. It’s colony, Iona’s colony, had been small. But the Queen had not only sacrificed Ceres. She had lost invisibility, anonymity. She had lost surprise, and after the Wolves fleet had been decimated, she lost peace. There was a war on, a war for the survival of their realm.

Iona had been found by patrolling Crows. They had informed the Queen’s Guard of her position and she had been rescued. She was summoned to come before Her Grace, and had told the truth, everything she knew. She had died, now she was dead no longer. Her new companion was bound to her. It was unthinkable to lie. The Ghost had been uneasy, hovered no more than inches from Iona. The Queen had seemed amused by that. The Prince, mostly disgusted.

There had never been a Guardian in the Reef before, outsiders were forbidden. But Iona was a unique case. The Queen looked at her and saw a weapon that could be of use in this war she had begun. The City and it’s Traveler that she and her people had given so much to protect owed her this much, did it not?

Iona was suddenly not so pleased to serve.

* * *

She found a ship, the oldest, rustiest, least noticeable she could find. Least likely to be missed.

Her Ghost knew the way to Earth. The way to the Reef, it swore to never reveal. She would not betray her people that far.

She struggled to find the words for what she was doing -treason certainly came to mind, but it was different than that- less a blatant betrayal than a quiet slipping away from where she was supposed to be.

She intended merely to vanish into the eternal night, never to be seen again.

The universe was not as engulfing as she had wished.

* * *

“She asked particularly for you.” Ikora said. She had not felt the Warlock approach, was too engrossed in peering at the shimmering Reef ship and its occupant through the gap between the stairway wall and the railing lining it.

“She was informed I was here?” Iona bit, fear and negativity surfacing.

“No. She has been asking by name for Iona Asej. She claims to be an old friend of yours.”

Iona’s eyes flickered back to the ship. Acquaintances, she had many. But friends? There were precious few who could call her such. 

“Thank you.” She told Ikora, and almost before her mind resolved to her body was moving, walking towards the mass of familiarity. She realized all along she had been drawn to the Emissary like light to a black hole. There was no escape.

The Queen’s ambassador recognized her first.

“Iona.” Petra said, eye lighting with that joy that rose when seeing the first familiar face after years of solitude. “Look at you. So regal!”

Her voice dropped a little of it’s excitement, her shoulders a little of their joy, when the Guardian did not immediately return her gaiety. “So much one of them…”

“Why are you here?” Iona asked.

“Queen’s request, I live to serve.”

“No, I mean you. Why you, my friend?”

Petra’s eyes darted away for a moment. “A miscalculation. It cost a handful of lives. I was demoted…”

“I see.” She said gently, ending the conversation. Petra smiled again a little. Reached out to grasp her arm in a firm handshake. Iona smiled back.

“Well it’s not the worst site of banishment. Welcome to the City.”

Both of them gazed out over the buildings, at the walls and the mountains beyond.

“That is the Gap, right there.” She felt compelled to point out the structure in the distant hills. “That was where the City faced the combined attack of the Fallen Houses.”

“Was it enough then? Was the entire Reef War worth it?”

“Not my place to say, but had the Wolves joined the others the City would most certainly have fallen. We suffered heavy losses. It was only tentatively a victory.” After a pause, she explained hurriedly. “I have read much history since coming here. I do wonder, though, what I might have missed of the Reef since my departure.”

“Quite a bit, I presume.” Petra admitted. “But to be honest I can’t recall very many particulars right now…”

“It’s nothing important.”

“It is though. I feel I owe you as much.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Iona promised, lifting a dismissive hand. For a moment they lapsed into silence.

“Skolas is captured and the Wolves belong to the Queen.” Petra finally said.

“Captured? Not dead.”

“The Queen’s decision. We live to serve…”

“Aye, we did.” Iona said, almost without thinking. Her chest rose in a partially unconscious sigh. It felt final, saying that. She was distancing herself from her Queen, what was she doing? And yet Petra did not seem surprised nor upset.

“Are you happy here?” She ventured. She seemed to know the answer before the Titan did, seemed resigned to accept it.

“Yes.” Iona said. “I think I truly am. It’s hard, I’m learning, but I do believe I’m enjoying myself in doing so.”

“It was right for you to come. I think she knew that. I think that is why she never tried to draw you back.” Petra looked uncomfortable. “It is not my place to assume, of course.”

“Of course.” Iona soothed. The other woman sighed.

“Visit me often” She pleaded. “I will be here a long time I fear.”

“it’s not so bad.” Iona reasoned hesitantly. “And I will.”

Petra wet her lips, glanced away. “She also wants you to know you are always welcome home.”

“Thank you.” Iona said, and neglected to mention how her home had changed.


End file.
